Got any UPS, USPS, or Fedex horror stories?

[cr0ssfire]

With all the shipping I've been doing recently to get parts to fix my system, I was thinking earlier about how it's a miracle that I haven't really had any shipping gaffes from any of the big three. Nothing got crunched, smash, or busted open aside from someone slicing open a mailing envelope to make off with the 1/8 inch -> 1/4 inch headphone adapter I was sent.

It got me thinking back to some of my more memorable shipping experiences, many of which involved UPS. Here's an old favorite...

If you've been reading the Cases & Cooling section at all, you probably already know that I went through RMA hell with my P180 for the longest time. Well, one particular day a while ago I was waiting to get a replacement front bezel in the mail because the door of my P180 was bulging out by at least half an inch. Antec RMA shipped it off to me via UPS Ground, and the UPS guy was supposed to deliver it in early afternoon/early evening. Terrific. I decided to go get some groceries rather than sit on my rear and wait, so I went off to Giant Eagle expecting to come back with the package neatly left by the front door.

When I arrived back from Giant Eagle and took a look at the front of the house, I swore like a sailor. There were packing peanuts all over my lawn in a nice little path right up to the front door where, you guessed it, the package was sitting on the porch looking like someone had taken a huge bite out of it. Really, how much effort would it have taken for the guy to just place his hand over the hole, thus preventing the peanuts from getting all over the lawn? But more importantly, why was the box ripped open in the first place? It didn't look like it had been handled particularly harshly, but to this day the hole in the box remains a mystery to me.

That's not really the greatest of horror stories, but I'm sure you all have some better ones.

 

[Marinski]

I work for UPS and if you saw the amount of packages we push daily and the working conditions then you'd know why your package had a hole. Its not like we bust your ****** intentionally. It just happens to a few in the process of moving alot of packages in a short amount of time in crappy working areas. Somebodys package has to be sacrificed for the greater good of the company and your package was it.

 

[thecrecarc]

Originally posted by: Marinski
I work for UPS and blah blah blah

ban! :|

 

[thescreensavers]

uhh fedex ran over my PDA witha truck. ya I got it back every thing was crushed

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Marinski
I work for UPS and if you saw the amount of packages we push daily and the working conditions then you'd know why your package had a hole. Its not like we bust your ****** intentionally. It just happens to a few in the process of moving alot of packages in a short amount of time in crappy working areas. Somebodys package has to be sacrificed for the greater good of the company and your package was it.

i have a friend who works in UPS that tells me otherwise
that there are some of them who damages packages intentionally, and take the contents out.

 

[Blazin Trav]

Originally posted by: Marinski
I work for UPS and if you saw the amount of packages we push daily and the working conditions then you'd know why your package had a hole. Its not like we bust your ****** intentionally. It just happens to a few in the process of moving alot of packages in a short amount of time in crappy working areas. Somebodys package has to be sacrificed for the greater good of the company and your package was it.

That may be... but it doesn't make up for the amount of morons UPS hires.

 

[Marinski]

Originally posted by: Blazin Trav

Originally posted by: Marinski
I work for UPS and if you saw the amount of packages we push daily and the working conditions then you'd know why your package had a hole. Its not like we bust your ****** intentionally. It just happens to a few in the process of moving alot of packages in a short amount of time in crappy working areas. Somebodys package has to be sacrificed for the greater good of the company and your package was it.

That may be... but it doesn't make up for the amount of morons UPS hires.

who else is going to work for $8.50 an hour? Harvard grads?

 

[Marinski]

Originally posted by: thecrecarc

Originally posted by: Marinski
I work for UPS and blah blah blah

ban! :|

Ha. Your package must the one i left my size 10 imprint on.

 

[compuwiz1]

A few years back, I sent a couple of CPU's to this fellow. I tracked them with delivery confirmation, and confirmed that after about a week, they were delivered back to my originating post office.
Apparently, what happened, was the box got dropped, then one of their trucks ran over it, mangling the label, so that the recipient was not visible.
I reclaimed the box, but when I opened it, the CPU's were crushed. I then filed a claim for the insurance I had on them, and it took me 6 months to get the refund. :|

 

[EKKC]

you all have to see the Maspeth (Queens) NY UPS Warehouse, this is where my packages get sent for pickups if I wasn't home. they recently opened up a customer service area away from the old one where the packages are still stored, its at the opposite corner (probably about 1000ft)

so you go pick up, the 2 persons there either walk 5 minutes back and forth for your package, or drive a little cart to get your small package. talk about stupid!

 

[Marinski]

People who work the counter are usually the fattest laziest peices of garbage.

 

[AlienCraft]

Once shipped a very nice Gibson Acoustic to George Gruhn for Neal Schon via UPS Arrived OK, However the return had the front caved in, as if someone had placed something VEWY HEAVY </elmer fudd> on top of it. :disgust:

Unreliable
Partial
Service

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
With all the shipping I've been doing recently to get parts to fix my system, I was thinking earlier about how it's a miracle that I haven't really had any shipping gaffes from any of the big three. Nothing got crunched, smash, or busted open aside from someone slicing open a mailing envelope to make off with the 1/8 inch -> 1/4 inch headphone adapter I was sent.

It got me thinking back to some of my more memorable shipping experiences, many of which involved UPS. Here's an old favorite...

If you've been reading the Cases & Cooling section at all, you probably already know that I went through RMA hell with my P180 for the longest time. Well, one particular day a while ago I was waiting to get a replacement front bezel in the mail because the door of my P180 was bulging out by at least half an inch. Antec RMA shipped it off to me via UPS Ground, and the UPS guy was supposed to deliver it in early afternoon/early evening. Terrific. I decided to go get some groceries rather than sit on my rear and wait, so I went off to Giant Eagle expecting to come back with the package neatly left by the front door.

When I arrived back from Giant Eagle and took a look at the front of the house, I swore like a sailor. There were packing peanuts all over my lawn in a nice little path right up to the front door where, you guessed it, the package was sitting on the porch looking like someone had taken a huge bite out of it. Really, how much effort would it have taken for the guy to just place his hand over the hole, thus preventing the peanuts from getting all over the lawn? But more importantly, why was the box ripped open in the first place? It didn't look like it had been handled particularly harshly, but to this day the hole in the box remains a mystery to me.

That's not really the greatest of horror stories, but I'm sure you all have some better ones.

um...people post them as they happen. you must not visit often because there's generally 2-3 on the 1st page at any given time.

 

[Marinski]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Once shipped a very nice Gibson Acoustic to George Gruhn for Neal Schon via UPS Arrived OK, However the return had the front caved in, as if someone had placed something VEWY HEAVY </elmer fudd> on top of it. :disgust:

Unreliable
Partial
Service

Did you add some padding in the box or did you just throw the guitar in the already used box with no padding and no tape like half the people that ship stuff?

 

[Rubycon]

The biggest problem with damaged goods is lack of proper packing technique. Extremely fragile items need to be isolated completely from the outside of the shipping container. You should see how Melles Griot packs laser heads. It takes an hour to open them up! Remember the foam that filled the car interior in Demolition Man? Yes it was like that. They vacuum seal the part, put it in the middle of a strong, water tight crate and inject expanding foam liquid that fills all voids. This crate gets put inside a larger crate with rubber bushings and double axis accelerometers are attached to see what kind of stress is put in the outside. This is why the handling fee can be $2500. Really expensive stuff is actually securely transported via private courier. :Q

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
A few years back, I sent a couple of CPU's to this fellow. I tracked them with delivery confirmation, and confirmed that after about a week, they were delivered back to my originating post office.
Apparently, what happened, was the box got dropped, then one of their trucks ran over it, mangling the label, so that the recipient was not visible.
I reclaimed the box, but when I opened it, the CPU's were crushed. I then filed a claim for the insurance I had on them, and it took me 6 months to get the refund. :|

you see fedex does run over stuff like my stuff

 

[EngenZerO]

gah... here is hoping my new gialla grill isnt damaged!!! heads would roll!!!

 

[imported_peachee]

Last month, as I was leaving in the morning, I saw a UPS deliveryman zip into the driveway, get out and toss a boxed package 10 feet onto the porch and zip away.

I can't imagine how they package the stuff into their truck or planes. They probably kick it around like in Ace Ventura Pet Detective.

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: EKKC

Originally posted by: Marinski
I work for UPS and if you saw the amount of packages we push daily and the working conditions then you'd know why your package had a hole. Its not like we bust your ****** intentionally. It just happens to a few in the process of moving alot of packages in a short amount of time in crappy working areas. Somebodys package has to be sacrificed for the greater good of the company and your package was it.

i have a friend who works in UPS that tells me otherwise
that there are some of them who damages packages intentionally, and take the contents out.

You seriously don't know until you've worked there, it is not a walk in the park. Some packages do get messed up by accident.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
The biggest problem with damaged goods is lack of proper packing technique. Extremely fragile items need to be isolated completely from the outside of the shipping container. You should see how Melles Griot packs laser heads. It takes an hour to open them up! Remember the foam that filled the car interior in Demolition Man? Yes it was like that. They vacuum seal the part, put it in the middle of a strong, water tight crate and inject expanding foam liquid that fills all voids. This crate gets put inside a larger crate with rubber bushings and double axis accelerometers are attached to see what kind of stress is put in the outside. This is why the handling fee can be $2500. Really expensive stuff is actually securely transported via private courier. :Q

I can describe how we wrap our satellites, load them onto a flatbed, and then move them at 3am with a police and power company escort (to take down low-hanging power lines along the way), but it's about as relevant to UPS, FedEx, or the USPS as Melles Griot shipping your lasers.

UPS often tosses my packages onto my second floor balcony and then leaves a note on the door to let me know it's on the "porch". There's a big plastic box with an open pad lock hanging on it eight feet from my door. There's also a sign that says, "Please leave packages in the plastic bin and lock it."

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Finally UPS has disappointed or maybe it was Barnes & Noble for bad packaging.
Anyways ordered some textbooks and UPS delivered them. Got home and looked at the box and it looked like the beat the crap out of it. I knew that would be bad. One of the textbooks now looks used like someone ran it over with a car. I'm going to return it and now have to wait for another book to be shipped.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I ordered some prints, they were about 15x20 type of size and came ina 2'x3'x4" box marked "fragile" all over the place. There was tire tracks on it. And not the small push cart type.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Oh, and as far as ship times:
I ordered a case with PS from Directron.com. They shipped it out quickly but it went via hobo. The UPS had it stop in every state between Texas and California. Took 9 days. Had a replacement PS shipped since they included the wrong one, that one stopped off in three cities in texas alone, one twice because it went to the wrong one. So when I sent back the original one I sent it via USPS parcel post with delivery confirmation. It took three weeks.

There was also the day when the UPS guy decided to play hide and seek with a package. At the house I was living at at the time, three walls have doors, three walls have decks. It's a rural area, so there's never been a problem of people stealing packages. One day, they said they delivered to the "front door". I never got it, checked with my neighbors. THREE DAYS LATER, I find it off stashed underneath the back corner of the deck closest to the wall that has no door at all. (I had already filed a claim)

 

[WT]

Currently have a claim in for a laptop that I sent for repair to Michigan two weeks ago. I called the repair shop and the owner says "Oh yea, your laptop is the unit with the broken screen".
Me: "umm, no, it isn't".
Him: "Oh yea it IS !"

He went on to state that the box shows a heavy load mark on a corner that coincides with where the screen suffered a compression fracture. I sent it in to have the board replaced, so my $250 repair is now looking like $450+. I had it insured for $250, but there is no guarantee that the new screen will not be damaged in transit back to me, so I am seriously considering bagging the whole repair plan and using the $250 claim check (if in fact UPS decides to pay for that) to buy a flat panel desktop LCD and giving up on that laptop.

 

[Chiller2]

Ordered an IBM tower PC at work at that time I was using whatever shipping metod was cheapest from our vender. It was delived and I went to our supply dept to pick it up and there was a big hole ripped in the side of the box on the inside there was a dent in the side of the case that looked like it had been done with a forklift. Understand there was a 3" gap between the box and the side of the PC case. Every since then I use FedEx for both my personal and business deliveries and havn't had any problems.